September 23, 2023 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The United States clarified the contents of the military aid package worth $325 million, Ukraine will receive: AIM-9M missiles for air defense; additional ammunition for HIMARS; Avenger air defense systems; 12.7-mm machine guns (Browning M2) to combat unmanned aircraft systems; 155mm artillery shells, including DPICM (cluster munitions); 105-mm artillery shells; TOW missiles; Javelin and AT-4 anti-tank systems; more than 3 million rounds of ammunition for small arms; 59 light tactical vehicles; ammunition to neutralize obstacles; spare parts, maintenance and other field equipment.

US President Joe Biden has assured that the United States remains committed to supporting Ukraine's efforts to defend itself against russia’s invasion. Biden also pointed out that the first American Abrams tanks will be delivered to Ukraine as early as next week.

The US Department of Defense has assured that the processes of providing Ukraine with Abrams tanks and the arrival of Ukrainians for training on F-16 fighter jets are going according to plan.

John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the US National Security Council, is convinced of Congress' strong support for the issue of providing assistance to Ukraine.

James O'Brien, Head of the US State Department's Office of Sanctions Coordination, believes that reussia's influence on Ukraine's grain exports through the Black Sea will decrease in the coming weeks.

The United States has returned to Ukraine cultural values stolen by russia from the occupied territories.

“I can confirm that we have contracted with Starlink for services in support of Ukraine with the ultimate goal of providing Ukraine with the satellite communications infrastructure it needs”, Press Secretary of the Pentagon Patrick Ryder said.

Ukraine has received 10 Swedish Stridsvagn 122 tanks, manned by Ukrainian crews trained in Sweden.

Germany has handed over to Ukraine 17 SatCom satellite communication terminals, four 8x8 HX81 truck tractors and four semi-trailers, 12 Zetros trucks, and spare parts for Wisent armored recover and evacuation vehicles.

The Czech volunteer organization Darcek pre Putina has raised EUR 650,000 for the purchase of the Bozena-5 unmanned demining vehicle for Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes that Ukraine's accession to NATO after the war will be a guarantee of a lasting and sustainable peace so that the story of russia's attack does not repeat. At the same time, he assured that NATO, allies and partners of the Alliance are clearly aware that Ukraine's victory in the fight against russia’s aggression is in their own security interests and they will continue to support Ukraine.

Foreign Ministers of Japan, Germany, India and Brazil issued a joint statement emphasizing the urgent need to reform the UN Security Council.

The European Commission has disbursed €1.5 billion of macro-financial support to Ukraine out of an €18 billion package planned for this year.

Ministers of Agriculture of Slovakia and Ukraine agreed to create a grain trade licensing system, which will make it possible to lift the ban on the import of Ukrainian agricultural products to Slovakia.

President of Poland Andrzej Duda, in his speech in Poznan at the Common Future congress on the reconstruction of Ukraine, said that the dispute over grain is a small part of Ukrainian-Polish relations, and it will not affect the entire achievements of cooperation between Kyiv and Warsaw.

South Korea has imposed new sanctions against 10 individuals and two entities linked to North Korea's nuclear program, as well as arms trade with three countries, russia included.

According to Minister of Foreign Affairs of France Catherine Colonna, russian foreign minister lavrov was not present at the UN Security Council for long: he “came, delivered his speech full of lies, as usual, and then left”.

rf

The West should not resume cooperation with russia in the energy sector after the war in Ukraine,  –  believes NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “In the energy sector, the situation has changed fundamentally... Previously, many Europeans thought that dependence on russian energy carriers was completely normal. They were wrong... We must not repeat this mistake and become dependent on gas and energy from russia again”, he said.

€207 billion of russian assets have been frozen in the EU, said European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders.

The United Kingdom Prosecutor's Office has said it has authorized espionage charges against five Bulgarian citizens – three men and two women – who are suspected of conspiracy to spy for russia.

Bulgarian authorities decided to expel the rector of the russian orthodox church in Sofia, archimandrite vassian (zmeev), from the country. Bulgarian authorities consider the clergymen of the russian orthodox church a threat to national security.

Minister of Justice of Latvia Inese Libina-Egnere has said that the country's government is working on a draft law banning cars registered in russia and belarus from staying in Latvia.

The record outflow of capital from russia in 2022 amounted to $243 billion, according to experts from the center for macroeconomic analysis and short-term forecasting. According to analysts, the main contribution to this amount was made by four key channels. The most ambitious of them was the change in the model of financing foreign trade. $66 billion was spent on trade loans and advances. The second place is occupied by the repayment of external debts by russian companies and banks in the amount of $ 62 billion. There was also a significant outflow of transactions of individuals – $47 billion was withdrawn to deposits abroad and spent on the purchase of cash currency. Another $40 billion is the withdrawal of foreign direct investment from the russian economy.

On September 22, the moscow exchange index fell below 3,000 points. The russian stock market has been declining all week.

Alrosa has stopped selling diamonds for two months. The decision comes amid concerns about declining demand for diamonds in international markets, leading to disruptions in factories and reduced resource allocation.

The “rossiya” special flight detachment, which is engaged in air transportation of putin and other high-ranking russian officials, offered passenger airlines to purchase Tu-214s prepared for decommissioning. One of the contenders, red wings, which is part of rostekh, already has two Tu-204s in its fleet aged 18 and almost 30 years.

The ban on the export of petrol and diesel fuel from the rf has been introduced indefinitely, and its validity will depend on the results and saturation of the market, said pavel sorokin, first deputy minister of energy of the rf.

The price for petrol will not decrease so far but will continue to grow within inflation, said head of the russian fuel union yevgeny arkusha.

russia is preparing for the introduction of martial law: roskomnadzor decided to check the readiness of telecom operators for damage and destruction of backbone networks “during martial law”.

In the process of drafting the decree adopted by lukashenko and banning the issuance of passports and apostilles of powers of attorney in consulates, analysts of the kgb, the oac and the lukashenko administration prepared a single analytical note that revealed the most important thing in the document – the massive emigration of the most qualified and competent labor resources on a national scale and the related outflow of capital from the country. In the electoral period from 2020 to 2025, about 500 thousand people have already left the country and will leave it. According to the calculation that everyone will take with them an average of $ 10,000 per family member (losing real estate, deposits, cars, etc.), the amount is catastrophic - $ 5 billion.

The State Agency for National Security of Bulgaria deprived two citizens of belarus of the right to reside and enter and expelled them from the country.

From September 27, belarusbank stops accepting new and replenishment of some previously opened term bank deposits in dollars.

The government of the rb has extended for six months a temporary ban on the export from the country of certain industrial goods, the list of which includes more than 250 codes of the commodity nomenclature.

Anatoly Kharitonchik, an expert of the BEROC mission, believes that today the economy of belarus is working at its limits.

pavel kharitonov, a 46-year-old resident of minsk, was sentenced to five years in prison for financing extremist activities for a $20 donation in 2021 for an initiative that the authorities only later recognized as “extremist”.

According to prime minister of belarus roman golovchenko, the level of knowledge of economists-graduates of belarusian universities “leaves much to be desired”.

lukashenko does not mind  parents’ donating money for the needs of the school, because education is free in belarus, and people in the country are “no longer poor”.